Information related to coal to gas.

Separate related pages: Coal, Natural Gas.

Additional Resources

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Companies - Coal to Gas

Calderon Energy - emerging company in Ohio considering operations in Wyoming.

GreatPoint Energy - Commercializing a proprietary catalytic process for converting coal (and other carbon-based feedstocks) into clean-burning, pipeline quality natural gas.

Investor: Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) - Energy - Capital - Venture Capitalists Page.  Locations: Palo Alto, California; Waltham, Massachusetts.

Investor: Kleiner, Perkins

Investor: Peabody Energy.

Locations: Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Website: http://www.greatpointenergy.com

Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited - commonly known as Towngas, is the monopoly provider of towngas in Hong Kong. Founded in 1862, it is one of the oldest listed companies in the territory.  It is the leading public utility in Hong Kong, and supplies towngas to 85% Hong Kong households, and also to commercial and industrial customers. It has several joint ventures in gas supply on the Mainland, where it has also started to enter into the businesses of supply of drinking water and waste water disposal. It also engages in property development projects, namely International Finance Centre (15% share), Grand Promenade (50% share) and Grand Waterfront, in Hong Kong with its largest shareholder.  Website.

Hunton Energy - will develop, own and operate energy centers using innovative technologies and processes to provide safe, clean and affordable energy to communities nationwide.  Website.

Peabody Energy - Energy - Coal Page.  Involved in gasification projects.

Resources

Gasification Technologies Council (GTC) - was created in 1995 to promote a better understanding of the role Gasification can play in providing the power, chemical and refining industries with economically competitive technology options to produce electricity, fuels and chemicals in an environmentally superior manner.  The Council represents companies involved in the development and licensing of Gasification technologies as well as engineering, construction, manufacture of equipment and production of synthesis gas by Gasification from coal, petroleum coke, heavy oils, and other carbon-containing materials.  Website.

Terms

Coal Gas - is a term referring to town gas made from coal. Town gas is a more general term referring to all manufactured gas produced for sale to consumers and municipalities. The terms manufactured gas, syngas (SNG), hygas, and producer gas are also common. Depending on the processes used for its creation, the gas is a mixture of caloric gases: hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, and volatile hydrocarbons with small amounts of noncaloric gases carbon dioxide and nitrogen as impurities. Coal gas plants, especially those that operated historically, are most commonly referred to today by environmental professionals and within the utility industry as Manufactured Gas Plants or "MGPs."  Prior to the development of natural gas supplies and transmission in the United States during 1940s and 1950s, virtually all fuel and lighting gas was manufactured, and the byproduct coal tars were at some times an important chemical feedstock for the chemical industries. The development of manufactured gas paralleled that of the industrial revolution and urbanization.  Wikipedia.

Coal to liquids - the chain of chemical processes to transform coal into liquid hydrocarbons. Coal to Liquids can be either "indirect", via gasification and Fischer-Tropsch process, or "direct", through the Bergius process.  The technology is controversial with respect to its true costs and contribution to the environmental movement.

Fisher-Tropsch Process - a catalyzed chemical reaction in which carbon monoxide and hydrogen are converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms. Typical catalysts used are based on iron and cobalt. The principal purpose of this process is to produce a synthetic petroleum substitute, typically from coal or natural gas, for use as synthetic lubrication oil or as synthetic fuel.  Often mentioned in "Coal to Liquids" discussions.  Wikipedia.

Gasification - Gasification is a process that converts carbonaceous materials, such as coal, petroleum, or biomass, into carbon monoxide and hydrogen by reacting the raw material at high temperatures with a controlled amount of oxygen. The resulting gas mixture is called synthesis gas or syngas and is itself a fuel. Gasification is a very efficient method for extracting energy from many different types of organic materials, and also has applications as a clean waste disposal technique.  The advantage of gasification is that using the syngas is more efficient than direct combustion of the original fuel; more of the energy contained in the fuel is extracted. Syngas may be burned directly in internal combustion engines, used to produce methanol and hydrogen, or converted via the Fischer-Tropsch process into synthetic fuel. Gasification can also begin with materials that are not otherwise useful fuels, such as biomass or organic waste. In addition, the high-temperature combustion refines out corrosive ash elements such as chloride and potassium, allowing clean gas production from otherwise problematic fuels.  Gasification of fossil fuels is currently widely used on industrial scales to generate electricity. However, almost any type of organic material can be used as the raw material for gasification, such as wood, biomass, or even plastic waste. Thus, gasification may be an important technology for renewable energy. In particular biomass gasification is carbon neutral.  Gasification relies on chemical processes at elevated temperatures >700°C, which distinguishes it from biological processes such as anaerobic digestion that produce biogas.  Wikipedia.

Syngas - Synthetic natural gas, produced in large waste-to-energy gasification facilities is used as fuel to generate electricity.  Wikipedia.

Underground Coal Gasification - is a method of converting unmined coal into combustible syngas – a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. World Coal Institute Technology Overview.  Linc energy Project.

Additional Resources

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Paul J. Feldman